Schroder Ventures, the UK venture capital house, is in the final stages of sealing the buy-out of Homebase, the UK DIY chain.

The UK private equity house has at last agreed a price with seller Sainsbury, the UK supermarket chain, after one of the most protracted corporate sales this year. Sainsbury put Homebase up for sale in the summer and Schroder Ventures has been the sole bidder for the past month. The price is believed to be between £700m (€1.1bn) and £800m.